July@AMOCA
As always, we are staying busy here at the museum. In June, AMOCA hosted engaging virtual artist talks with Artist in Residence Kirstin Willders and Blooop artist Alina Hayes. Beyond the musuem walls, we collaborated with Lopez Farms for a community pitfire session and a family MudMobile event. In the Studio, we held two introductory throwing sessions, including one especially for current AMOCA members. And, artist Shiyuan Xu came down to the Studio to lead a one-day workshop on working with porcelain paper clay.
AMOCA is currently open for visitors Friday-Sunday 11-4, and we’re glad so many of you have been coming by to see our current exhibits! The museum is air-conditioned, but you can heat things up with the woodfire exhibits on view in the Armstrong Gallery through Sunday, July 24: Peter Callas: An Enduring Legacy, a comprehensive career retrospective showcasing Callas’s mastery of anagama kiln wood-firing techniques, and 50 Bowls, 50 States, 50 Woodfires, Elaine Henry’s collaborative investigation into the nuances of woodfire. While you’re here, step into Connected Spaces: Cheryl Ann Thomas + Michael F. Rohde, an assembly of ceramic sculptures and woven tapestries created through a year-long artistic exchange, on view in Gallery B, and Blooop by Alina Hayes, a series of “joyful objects full of childlike wonder” in the Vault. Downstairs, you can view selected works from the Robert D. and Collette D. Wilson Villeroy and Boch Collection in The Artists of Mettlach.
Don’t forget, members can visit the Museum on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 AM to 4 PM for a quieter experience in the exhibition galleries. Visits can be booked online, by calling the Museum at (909) 865-3146, or by emailing membership@amoca.org.
In July, we’re looking forward to seeing smiling faces at our Summer Family Day. This event, for families and caregivers with children of all ages, invites you to explore AMOCA through the theme of pattern, with clay and paint activities, a scavenger hunt, and undeniable fun! Participation is free for our neighbors living in the City of Pomona; for all other families, we offer a reduced admission price. Learn more and reserve your spot for Summer Family Day on Saturday, July 23.
Speaking of opportunities for the under-18 crowd, are you familiar with our Teen Council program? Teen Council members are high school students who meet weekly at AMOCA, get access to exclusive museum areas and events, develop their college resumes, meet artists, and make art! Council membership is free, and council terms are aligned with the academic school year. Teen Council applications are now open through September 16, 2022.
Our Artist in Residence (AIR) program in the Ceramic Studio is always vibrant. On Saturday, June 11, Kirstin Willders gave a virtual artist talk to mark the end of her yearlong residency at AMOCA (if you missed tuning in live, you can watch the recording here). Summer resident Amy Santoferraro has moved neatly into her studio space and is hard at work exploring new forms and glazes. Colby Charpentier is getting ready to wrap up his twelve-month residency in August. We invite you to attend Colby’s virtual artist talk on Saturday, July 23 to learn more about—and see images of—the pieces he’s been working on in the Studio.
Classes and workshops in the Ceramics Studio continue to sell out soon after they are posted. A number of summer session classes (starting the week of July 10) have already sold out. To keep up with demand, we opened two new sections of Beginning Wheel Throwing on Sundays. If you’re not ready to commit to a full class but want to get your hands on some clay, check out our July 9 Introductory class, a 90 minute hands-on session where you’ll learn the basics of throwing on the potters wheel. And, the next event in the Artist Workshop Series, Architectural Incense Holders with Eunbi Cho, has a couple seats still available. If you’d like to participate in a studio clay experience this summer, be sure to reserve soon!
Thank you for being a partner in AMOCA’s mission to champion the ceramic arts! We look forward to welcoming you to the Museum Friday through Sunday, from 11 AM through 4 PM; you can make reservations online.
Hope to see you soon,
Genevieve Kaplan
Associate Director of Communications & Stewardship
July Programs and Events
Virtual Artist Talk with Colby Charpentier
Saturday, July 23, 2022 • 11 AM –12 PM (PST) • Online
Join us for a virtual artist talk with Artist in Residence Colby Charpentier. This talk marks the closing event of his 2021-2022 residency in the AMOCA Studio.
Summer Family Day at the Museum
Saturday, July 23, 2022 • 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Pacific) • In Person
Family Day is back! Explore AMOCA through the theme of pattern, with clay and paint activities, a scavenger hunt, and undeniable fun! This event is for families and caregivers with children of all ages.
July Introductory Ceramics Session
Saturday, July 9 • 5:30 –7 PM • In-person • $45
Learn the basics of throwing on the potters wheel! Complimentary access to the Museum galleries is included.
The perfect way to get your hands dirty, relax, and have fun! In this one-day introductory class, you’ll learn the basics of throwing on the potters wheel. If you successfully create a bowl, staff will glaze it with an oatmeal glaze and fire it after the class is completed – all included in the price. If you’d like to take the piece home with you, you can come back and pick it up.
Summer Session Ceramics Classes Now Available
Six weeks, starting the week of July 10 • In-person • $295
If you’re looking to develop your skills further, consider taking a six-week course. Courses encourage development of ceramic skills and are limited to 10 participants. Courses meet once a week with an instructor for 2.5 hours (15 hours of total instructor time). Access to open studio hours are included for the duration of the class and the two weeks following.
Summer session classes are already selling out! Be sure to register early for Summer Session.
Member Bonus Days
Wednesdays and Thursdays • 11 AM–4 PM • In-person
Members can now book tickets to visit Museum galleries on Wednesdays and Thursdays. A fun way to enjoy the galleries to yourself!
First Fridays at AMOCA
Friday, August 5 • 11 AM–4 PM • In-person
Thanks to generous support from AMOCA’s Board of Directors, Museum admission for First Fridays at AMOCA is pay what you can (while tickets last). Each month, visit the Museum and choose your own ticket prices!
In Case You Missed It
Artist Talk: Blooop by Alina Hayes
Presented and recorded on Thursday, June 23, 2022
A recording of the virtual artist talk with artist Alina Hayes to celebrate the exhibition Blooop by Alina Hayes.
Virtual Artist Talk with Kirstin Willders
Presented and recorded on Saturday, June 11, 2022
Artist in Residence Kirstin Willders presented an artist talk to share new work and reflect on her 2021-2022 residency in the AMOCA Studio.
Exhibitions on View
Visit Friday–Sunday, 11 AM–4 PM by purchasing tickets online.
Blooop by Alina Hayes
In my studio practice, the work moves between form and function as I think about fluidity of materials, process and time. Drawing on parallels between the unpredictability of the ceramic process and the shortcomings I often feel as an immigrant, woman, wife, mother and educator. Obsessed with succeeding, becoming something of value and the connectedness as I sit and shape intricate clay objects. . . . The Blooop series emerged as I regained control by making joyful objects full of childlike wonder. With feeling of play, without judgment, the work is loud, unapologetic; mine.
-Alina Hayes
On view May 14 through August 28, 2022.
Connected Spaces: Cheryl Ann Thomas + Michael F. Rohde
On view through August 21, 2022, Connected Spaces presents nearly 50 artworks by California-based artists Michael F. Rohde and Cheryl Ann Thomas. This assembly of ceramic sculptures and woven tapestries is focused on a recent series created by the artists through a year-long artistic exchange in 2020-2021. The exhibition also includes pieces by both artists beyond the series to provide context.
Connected Spaces: Cheryl Ann Thomas + Michael F. Rohde is curated by Jo Lauria, Adjunct Curator.
The Artists of Mettlach
On view through July 31, 2022, this exhibition presents a selection of works from the Villeroy and Boch Mettlach Collection (donated by Robert D. And Colette D. Wilson). It features original research on notable artists involved in the production of this historic works.
Peter Callas: An Enduring Legacy
Regarded as one of the preeminent ceramic artists in the American Studio Ceramics tradition to work with anagama kilns, Peter Callas (1951– ) influenced an entire generation of ceramic artists. Among the 50 works featured in An Enduring Legacy are Callas’s innovative expressionist sculptures and abstracted container forms that function as visual records of the transformative forces of fire. Other works on display include intimate tea bowls, selected works on paper, and the premier of an original film about the artist. On view through July 24, 2022.
50 Bowls, 50 States, 50 Woodfires
A project of scholar and artist Elaine Olafson Henry, this exhibition presents 50 thrown porcelain bowls, each created by the artist using the same clay block, the same building and shaping process, and the same glaze coat. In order to explore how firing circumstances would inevitably influence the finished pieces, Henry then shipped each bowl to a different wood firing ceramist in each state. The end result is a snapshot in time of woodfire practices across the United States. On view through July 24, 2022.